


Friends Are The Family You Choose

by grumblesandmumbles



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Bonding, Debbie Gallagher & Mickey Milkovich Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-04
Updated: 2015-01-04
Packaged: 2018-03-05 03:03:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3103169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grumblesandmumbles/pseuds/grumblesandmumbles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mickey and Debbie bond while Ian's hospitalized.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Friends Are The Family You Choose

Mickey had lived a life of loneliness by choice, though he wasn't really aware he did so. He was endlessly loyal to his family, but not close to them, not connected. It was just easier not to get invested. Safer. And then one freckle-faced Ian Gallagher burst into his life and turned everything upside down. He fought and resisted, but as time went on they circled closer and closer to each other, until Mickey finally understood that he didn't want to be lonely. That he could choose to open himself up to this person. Once he committed himself to the idea, nothing could keep them apart in Mickey's mind. He never wanted to be without Ian. But after Ian got arrested, Mickey finally understood that he needed a certain kind of help that his family and friends just couldn't give him, though it wasn't until he had a conversation with Debbie that he stopped fighting with everyone about what to do. Ian had gotten arrested for kidnapping Yevgeny. Svetlana had been understandably upset, but even she knew that this was part of a bigger problem that they couldn't handle on their own. She had no interest in pressing charges against Ian, but she knew she had to take drastic action, so she refused to have them dropped. No one had any interest in sending someone struggling with mental issues to prison, and the district attorney had been more than happy to recommend hospitalization instead. This was a way to get Ian real help that they didn't have to pay for. Mickey was furious, not grasping that she was doing it with the best of intentions. He and Svetlana had went to the Gallagher house to discuss Ian's case for the umpteenth time and he started in on her again about dropping the charges when Debbie finally had enough. "Mickey, can we take a walk?" He almost ignored her but she grabbed his wrist and said, _"Now."_

She pulled him out of the house and down the block before she finally let go of him. He hadn't even tried to pull away on his own because he couldn't believe what she was doing. She turned to him and said, "Can I tell you a secret?" He shrugged and motioned for her to continue. "A couple of years ago, Monica tried to kill herself on Thanksgiving." Mickey replied, "I know, that's not a secret." She glared at him and said, "Let me finish. She slit her wrists and nearly bled out on our kitchen floor while we all watched. She has bipolar disorder and doesn't treat it. She signed herself in for 60 days, but Frank got this brilliant idea to break her out and convinced me to come along to help. I told my family I was sleeping over my friend's house and I went with him to get her out. To this day, no one knows about this, so please don't mention it. Long story short, we got her and her roommate out of the hospital and they ran off. Monica said we were better off without her. I haven't seen her since. Hadn't even heard anything about her until we found out Ian had been staying with her after he ditched the army. My point is, when someone is bipolar and doesn't take care of it, it gets worse and worse. We should have never tried to get her out, we should have let her get help because that's what she needed. And it's what Ian needs. I know you don't want him to go away but it might be best. And the state will be responsible for paying for it, not any of us. I know you're mad at Svetlana but she made the right choice with not dropping the charges. It's making the state have to deal with it, and they're doing it the right way. This is how it needs to be. Stop fighting with everyone. No one is against you."

From that point forward, Mickey took Debbie's words to heart and let the situation progress. Everyone wondered what Debbie had said to make Mickey stand down, but they always kept it between them. He knew it was for the best. But it had been so long since Mickey had been without Ian that he really didn't know how to deal with it. For many nights after Ian was hospitalized, Mickey barely slept, tossing and turning for hours. He was especially irritable, and no one was safe from his wrath. Finally, after some time of this, Svetlana sneaked into his room one night and sat down on the edge of the bed next to him. When he turned to ask her what she was doing in his room, she held a finger over his lips to silence him and said, "You be quiet, I'll be quiet, we pretend this never happened." She slid under the blanket and held him from behind, the way she had seen Ian do. He tried to struggle against her but she wrapped her arm firmly around his waist and held him tight. Finally, he stopped fighting. She felt him shaking and realized he was crying. She ran her free hand through his hair and shushed him quietly until he finally fell asleep. It was the best sleep he had in some time. They never spoke of it again.

Debbie always understood loneliness on an intellectual level. She was a bright girl, after all. She knew that Sheila became so attached to the Gallaghers because of her own loneliness. She knew that Sammi was so clingy with Frank for the same reason. But Debbie had never really imagined that she would know that kind of loneliness, what with five siblings and people coming and going from their house at any given time. When the family first fell apart, Debbie didn't know that she was lonely. After Ian had run away, Fiona was working full-time and Lip was at college, Debbie and Carl were just taking advantage of the new-found freedom they had. From there, it seemed Fiona and Ian took turns getting their shit together while the other one fell apart. They finally found Ian, but then Fiona got arrested and subsequently broke her probation. She finally straightened everything out just in time for them to deal with Ian's first foray into the depths of bipolar disorder. He had pulled out of it and everything was going along for a time until he finally got arrested and went into the hospital. Now, Fiona worked as much as possible and Lip came home from school less and less. Debbie finally understood what loneliness really was. That's why it was a nice change when Mickey started showing up here and there and spending time with her. It had started off small enough. Mickey stopping by on his way to visit Ian, looking for some specific sweatshirt he wanted. Svetlana making too much for dinner and him bringing some for Debbie, since Fiona was always working late. Picking up some old baby stuff of Liam's for Yevgeny which Debbie had put together for them. But there always seemed to be a purpose, a reason for these visits. 

Then one day, Mickey was out running some errands when he found himself on the Gallagher's front porch. He had no reason to be there for once. Nonetheless, he found himself knocking on the door. He heard footsteps and Debbie opened it. "Hey uh, can I come in?" She nodded and stepped back, pulling the door open as she did to let him enter. He stepped into the living room and they both awkwardly watched each other, waiting for the other to speak. Finally, Debbie broke the silence. "Um, do you want a beer?" He nodded and they moved into the kitchen, Debbie grabbing the drink out of the fridge and offering it to him. He popped the top off and took a long gulp. Debbie spoke again. "So um, what are you doing here? Fiona and Lip aren't here." He shrugged and replied, "I figured they weren't. And I'm not really sure. I think... I think I just wanted to feel closer to your brother." She looks at him knowingly and says, "If you want, you could go sit up in the boys' room for awhile. No one's home." He nods and goes up the back stairs. He pushes open the door to the bedroom and sits on the edge of Ian's bed. He traces his fingers along the blanket until he reaches the pillow. He grabs it up and presses it to his face, breathing deeply. It smells like Ian. After all this time, it still smells like Ian. He curls up on the bed, hugging the pillow to his body. He nods off for an unknown amount of time, but it must have been awhile. He wakes up and it's dark outside. The light in the room was turned on and the door had been closed. The house is still very quiet.

He makes his way downstairs and finds Debbie at the kitchen table, eating a sandwich and working on something, he assumes for school. She motions towards the counter and says, "I made a sandwich for you too, in case you were hungry. There's more beer in the fridge too." He gives her a small half smile and replies, "Thanks." He grabs a beer and the sandwich and joins her at the table. "Whatcha working on?" She sighs and says, "A family tree project for school. Which is just making me realize what a mess this family is." She throws her pencil across the room in frustration. Mickey is a bit alarmed at this side of Debbie, she's always pretty level headed when he sees her. "Hey, don't say that. What do you mean?" She throws her hands up and replies, "Look at us. We used to be so close and now everything is falling apart. Fiona is barely holding it together and works like an animal, Lip barely comes home from college anymore, Ian's dealing with this bipolar stuff, Carl is hanging out with _Frank_ and who knows what lasting affects Liam's cocaine adventures might bring. It's like every man for himself. I just want my family back the way they used to be. No one's even here except me. I'm doing this stupid family tree and I can't help but think about an actual tree, and who would be what parts of the tree. I would have made Fiona and Ian the roots. They were always the reliable ones, the ones who worked the hardest and kept things together. But now they're both dealing with so many things. How does a tree survive without its roots? If we were a real tree, I'd be concerned that we're withering away." She grabs another pencil and continues drawing.

Mickey feels stuck. He knows he needs to say something to Debbie, but he's not one for this comforting thing. He thinks for a moment, taking another sip of his beer. "Deb, things will work out. Fiona and Ian are tough, they'll get through this shit. A tree has different parts, maybe they just can't be the roots for awhile. Maybe your tree is just... evolving. Like, think of an oak tree. It drops acorns and they turn into their own trees. Maybe the structure of your family is just changing. People go through shit, but that doesn't mean that it won't work out. Me and Ian went through a lot of shit but we found our way back to each other. And he's dealing with some things right now, but I'm here for him and that's not going to change. Besides, family isn't just about the people you're born to, it's also about the people you choose. Ian's my family, and because of that you're my family. Whatever you need, you can always come to me. I'm not good with the talking or dating stuff, that's more Mandy's department, but if you ever need someone's ass kicked, or quick money cuz you're in a jam, I'm your guy. I hope you know that." Debbie smiles at him. He's better at this talking thing than he knows, but she's not going to let him know that. He might stop doing it. "Thanks. Want to stay and watch a movie? Your choice." He nodded and they moved into the living room. She handed him a stack of DVDs and he flipped through until he found one that looked interesting enough. He popped it in the player and started it up. Fiona eventually came home from work and found Mickey and Debbie asleep on the couch, snoring away in the light of the TV that was still on. At some point, Debbie had wound up nestled in the crook of Mickey's shoulder, her hair splayed out over his arm and chest. Fiona debated on whether to wake them, but decided to just leave them there. She grabbed a blanket from the armchair and gently fanned it out over them, then went upstairs and went to bed herself.

A few weeks later, Mickey was heading to the Gallagher's to drop off a bag Debbie had left at his place. She had come over to babysit Yevgeny the day before and had left the bag in a corner. Mickey had to go to The Alibi anyway, so he figured he'd drop it on his way. He picked up the bag and noticed a rolled up paper sticking out. Curious, he opened it up and realized it was the family tree project she had been working on when he had stopped by that one time. He sees a big tree with all the Gallagher names on it and then next to it, there is a smaller tree with three other names: Mickey, Mandy and Sheila. Above the tree, she had written "Friends are the family you get to choose." He smiled and put the paper back where he found it.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on Tumblr [here](http://grumblesandmumbles.tumblr.com) if you please :)
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
